AMD could make us wait for its monster 64-core Threadripper 3990X processor

(Image credit: Future)

AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3960X, 3970X and 3990X make up the official range of 3rd-gen chips which are about to be unleashed on the world, although the flagship will come slightly later – or at least that’s the latest word from the graphics grapevine.

According to Videocardz, an inside source at AMD shared ‘highly confidential’ documents which show the intended launch schedule for the aforementioned processors (although the tech site notes that while these dates were correct a few weeks back, the schedule could change – as ever with any launch plans).

At any rate, AMD’s alleged intention is to reveal all three of these Threadripper 3000 CPUs on November 5 alongside TXR40 motherboards (and mobo manufacturers will be able to show off their respective products built on that chipset).

At this point, the core counts and clock speeds of the 3960X and 3970X will be detailed, but not the spec of the flagship 3990X – only the latter’s existence will be revealed (via a ‘teaser’) on November 5.

The full unveil of the Threadripper 3990X will happen in January 2020, where the specs will be divulged – so that could possibly be planned for CES – with a launch following later in the month.

As for the launch of the 3960X and 3970X, following the reveal on November 5, these chips go on sale come November 19 (along with the TXR40 motherboards). All of this information, of course, is just rumored, and as previously noted, even if it was true at the time the documents were written, the launch schedule might still change.

AMD also plans to finally unleash the Ryzen 9 3950X (flagship mainstream Ryzen CPU, not Threadripper) in November, too, as we’ve previously heard.

Ripping yarns

The existence of a Threadripper 3960X was also rumored yesterday in a leaked benchmark from Ashes of the Singularity, showing that it’s (allegedly) a 24-core chip. AMD has also previously stated that it will kick off by ‘premiering’ a CPU with 24-cores – so that lines up with this rumor, although the 3970X also launching alongside it doesn’t. Because that, presumably, would be a 32-core chip – so maybe AMD changed its mind about its launch strategy here?

Unless the 3970X actually is the 24-core chip, but that wouldn’t make much sense in terms of being no advance on the 2970WX in terms of the core count. Plus it certainly runs contrary to what we’ve been hearing about the Threadripper 3rd-gen range of late, and previous rumors – namely that we’re expecting major advances, and the flagship to up the ante from 32-cores to 64-cores.

The speculation we chewed over yesterday contends that the 3970X could run with 32-cores, and there will be a 3980X with 48-cores, and a flagship 3990X having 64-cores (128-threads). All this is pure guesswork really, though, and sadly the leaked documents didn’t confirm anything about core counts or other spec details.

What about that 3980X, you might ask? Because the alleged chip is conspicuously absent in AMD’s launch plans as laid out above. It could be the case that this processor is due for release at a later date, to fill in the range and the gap between 32-cores and 64-cores (theoretically). Or maybe it just isn’t planned at all…

The good thing is that at least everything will become clear enough in just a few short weeks – hopefully, or soon thereafter – when we hear direct from AMD exactly what the plans are for Threadripper 3000.

Via Wccftech

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).